GOP, telecoms strike back on net neutrality - The Hill letter that didn’t happen - The big picture: Little in D.C. stands in way of commercial data collection

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GOP, TELECOMS STRIKE BACK ON NET NEUTRALITY — The state of play from Tony, as we head into Wednesday: “Telecom giants and House Republicans mounted a counteroffensive in the escalating debate over net neutrality rules on Tuesday…[decrying] a push by consumer groups to have the FCC treat broadband as a utility, warning it could chill investments and result in ‘years — if not decades — of endless litigation.’ Top GOP lawmakers, including Reps. Fred Upton (Mich.) and Greg Walden (Ore.), also urged the agency to avoid that option. [FCC Chairman Tom] Wheeler pledged to seek public comment on such ‘reclassification’ in a revised net neutrality proposal this week, according to commission sources...The pushback highlights the pressures on Wheeler as he seeks to navigate a compromise ahead of the FCC’s Thursday vote on net neutrality. For every change the chairman makes to satisfy advocacy groups and Internet activists, he risks incurring the wrath of regulation-wary lawmakers as well as telecom companies, which have successfully challenged the agency’s net neutrality efforts in the past.” MORE: http://politico.pro/QI2AJW

--THE HILL LETTER THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN — Congressional lawmakers are increasingly grappling with the thorny challenge of deciding whether and how to weigh in on Wheeler’s proposal (Senate Republicans made their voices heard last night and letters supporting and opposing reclassification are still circulating in the House.) A strange-bedfellows coalition of Democrats and Republicans in both chambers, in fact, had been as far back as last Friday considering sending a letter to the FCC calling for a delay on the net neutrality vote scheduled for Thursday — in part because they didn’t want a key step on the much-anticipated spectrum auction to be overshadowed. But ultimately, the lawmakers decided against sending such a letter — two sources familiar with the letter suggested it was in part because Wheeler’s office was aware of it and not thrilled, while two others said lawmakers just decided the timing wasn’t right.

THE BIG PICTURE: LITTLE IN D.C. STANDS IN WAY OF COMMERCIAL DATA COLLECTION — Josh Gerstein and Stephanie Simon, for the official launch of Pro Cybersecurity: “Congress and the administration have moved to rein in the National Security Agency in the year since Edward Snowden disclosed widespread government spying. But Washington has largely given private-sector data collection a free pass. The result: a widening gap in oversight as private data mining races ahead. Companies are able to scoop up ever more information — and exploit it with ever greater sophistication — yet a POLITICO review has found deep reluctance in D.C. to exercise legislative, regulatory or executive power to curb the big business of corporate cybersnooping.”

“The inertia — and lack of a serious legislative push — on private-sector data mining has several causes. Many Republicans are averse to any new regulation of business. Many Democrats are skittish about alienating campaign donors in Silicon Valley. It’s been more than two years since President Barack Obama announced — after two years of deliberation — that he would push for a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights. Since then, no legislation has been introduced to implement it, and no regulations have been crafted. White House officials now acknowledge the proposal is outdated and may have been so on the day it was introduced.’” http://politico.pro/QHTQ6R

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING and welcome to Morning Tech, where we’re always happy to hear what you’ve got going on today. We’re all hurtling toward the FCC meeting tomorrow, but let us know what’s on your radar today with a note to abyers@politico.com and @byersalex. And catch the rest of the team’s contact info after speed read.

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NOW LIVE: Pro Cybersecurity — A new coverage area from POLITICO Pro dedicated to delivering the latest cybersecurity news and regulatory developments. Did you know that data breaches cost to a U.S. organizations $6 million a year on average? Stay up to date on what’s being done about it with Pro Cybersecurity. Know what the #ProsKnow by emailing us at Tch.info@politicopro.com.

ALSO OUT TODAY: POLITICO’s newest series Beyond the NSA, launching in conjunction with Pro Cybersecurity, examines the unchecked expansion of private sector data collection and the implications for consumer privacy. Think the NSA is only unregulated organization? Think again. Don’t miss the first must-read story on the failed efforts to regulate how the private sector collects, uses and sells data: http://www.politico.com/p/pages/beyond-the-nsa

TECH ON LOSING END OF PATENT GRIDLOCK — Erin has the story: “While the tech community presses on in its war to stop “patent trolls,” this current battle may be lost. The Senate Judiciary Committee, after weeks of markup cancellations, appears to be leaving behind some of the compromise language on litigation reforms that tech giants like Google, Apple and Microsoft have rallied behind. The tech community says it will pull support for any measure if it is too weak. That is, if there is a measure: There’s nothing on the panel’s calendar, and the clock is running out on even finishing a bill, several sources on and off Capitol Hill said. Major patent-holding industries — many with longstanding lobbying operations — have intensified their opposition to key provisions in recent weeks, and those efforts seem to be working, several lobbyists said. The result: The latest ideas percolating before Senate Judiciary have been whittled down too far, reform advocates and tech industry representatives say.” http://politico.pro/1v1UNY2

EU COURT DECISION ON ‘RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN’ WORRIES TECH GROUPS — A European Union Court of Justice decision early Tuesday that search engines and potentially other tech companies sometimes have to remove lawfully posted information from their websites has folks stateside wondering how such a situation might work in practice, and industry groups about worrying what’s on the horizon. “There is certainly a potential chilling impact on free expression resulting from this decision,” ITIC’s Yael Weinman said in a statement, while CCIA’s Brussels VP James Waterworth said separately that “this ruling opens the door to large scale private censorship in Europe. It may open the floodgates for tens of thousands of requests to have legal, publicly available information about Europeans taken out of a search index or links removed from websites.” Find a primer on the issue here, via WSJ: http://on.wsj.com/1mWAdCS, and catch the NYT ed board’s worry that the ruling could “undermine press freedoms and free speech.” http://nyti.ms/1mWDbqN

N.Y. JUDGE QUASHES SUBPOENA IN AIRBNB CASE — A New York state judge has backed, at least for now, Airbnb in its latest fight with state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who had filed a subpoena for user information that the room-sharing service argued was an overbroad fishing expedition. “The subpoena at issue, as drafted, seeks materials that are irrelevant to the inquiry at hand and accordingly, must be quashed,” judge Gerald Connolly wrote Tuesday. Connolly didn’t preclude the AG’s office from sending a more narrowly tailored request for user info as part of Schneiderman’s push to find Airbnb users that are skirting a room-renting law. “This decision is good news for New Yorkers who simply want to share their home and the city they love,” Airbnb said in a statement, while AG spokesman Matt Mittenthal indicated in a separate statement that a renewed subpoena was indeed on its way. “The judge rejected all of AirBnb’s arguments except for a narrow technical issue, and we will reissue the subpoena to address it,” he said.

DHS SECRETARY PREDICTS AGREEMENT ON CYBER BILLS — Reuters Alina Selyukh: “Congress is likely to agree on cybersecurity legislation this summer, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on Tuesday, citing growing consensus among lawmakers on the need to help industry share data with government about attacks on computer networks. Lawmakers have been considering legislation to clarify how private companies should be required to disclose security breaches and cyber threats, but spats over liability and privacy protections have repeatedly thwarted comprehensive cybersecurity bills.” http://reut.rs/1v1VAZ0

ICYMI: LAWMAKERS WEIGH ENCRYPTION AMENDMENT — The Guardian’s Spencer Ackerman: “US legislators concerned about weaknesses in a major surveillance reform bill intend to insert an amendment barring the National Security Agency from weakening the encryption that many people rely on to keep their information secure online, or exploiting any internet security vulnerabilities it discovers. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, told the Guardian that she and a group of colleagues want to prevent the NSA from ‘utilizing discovered zero-day flaws,’ or unfixed software security vulnerabilities, and entrench ‘the duty of the NSA and the government generally not to create them, nor to prolong the threat to the internet’ by failing to warn about those vulnerabilities.” http://bit.ly/1v1WnsV

SPEED READ

UDALL, WYDEN WRITE ADMINISTRATION OVER SCOTUS CLAIMS: The senators argue that the DOJ wasn’t forthcoming during high court arguments in a surveillance case in 2012. The NYT: http://bit.ly/1mWBklY

CRUZ LOOKS TO BLUNT FCC AUTHORITY: The Texas senator is working a draft bill that would undercut section 706 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, The Hill writes: http://bit.ly/1mWBklY

FRANKEN WRITES SAMSUNG ON BIOMETRICS: The Minnesota senator worries that a fingerprint scanner may not be as secure as thought, the Hill writes: http://bit.ly/1mWBUA8

GOOGLE WANTS THE PUBLIC TO GET COMFORTABLE WITH DRIVERLESS CARS: To that end, Mountain View is starting with the reporters who are going to write about the vehicles, Reuters reports: http://reut.rs/1mWC62k

CONYERS DEALT PRIMARY BALLOT SETBACK: He could be forced to wage a write-in campaign after 50 years on Capitol Hill, the WSJ reports: http://on.wsj.com/1mWDC4C

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